Jess & the Baseball Tryouts
by GinnyRueLover
Summary: Jess realizes that she's been spending a lot of time with Megan, Becca, Emma, and her Colonial friends, but not with Cassidy. She decides to just do what Cassidy does- and she tries out for the fall ball team!


**This story was a request from MDBC4ever/ Hannah! Hope you guys like it! Oh yeah, DarcyIsMine wanted a Jarcy story! I love the idea and it'll be up in about 2 weeks! (Sorry the due date's late, everything's gettign really busy)**

Jess & The Baseball Tryouts

It's a warm September morning on Saturday. Ryan and Dylan are sleeping over at a friend's house and my father's in the barn. My mother's sitting in the kitchen table drinking tea, reading the newspaper. I mope down the stairs and plop down next to her.

She glances up, surprised. "What's wrong, Jess?" she asks warmly, getting up and making me a mug of tea too. "Is Savannah acting up again?"

I sigh, playing with the ends of my thick blonde hair. "No," I answer moodily. "Nothing's the matter."

Mom sets the cup of lemon tea in front of me. "Sure there is. I'm your mother, Jess. I know you. Now, what's wrong?"

I sip my tea. "You know how Cassidy's been really busy lately?" I ask her.

"Ye-es," she answers apprehensievly.

"Well, I see Adele and Frankie at Colonial. I hang with Emma every weekend. I see Megan, like, every other day when I go to the Wong's to model Megan's newly designed clothes." And I don't really care about being with Becca, I think darkly.

"Not every other day," Mom corrects automaticly.

"No. You're right. And other than book club, I never see Cassidy. She always has Lady Shawmuts, or Chicks with Sticks, or baseball, or Ice Dancing." It's junior year and Cassidy has recently decided to take up ice dancing again because it reminds her of Tristan. Awww. "And I miss hanging with her. And in two years, we'll be in college and I'll regret not spending time with her while I could."

Mom tousles my hair. "I know it's hard, Jess," she says softly. "So why don't you build yourself into Cassidy's schedule? Join her hockey team, or co-coach her Sticks and Chicks, or whatever it's called."

"Chicks with Sticks, Mom."

"Whatever. My point is, if you really want to be with Cassidy more, try to be part of her daily routine. Do the things that she does."

I nodded. That sounds good. I just might do that.

-2 WEEKS LATER-

I'm in our minivan, cruising to my destination. Mom and Dad are at home enjoying the crisp Friday afternoon of early September, and the twins are at swim practice. This is it, I think. Minutemen Park, 38 Driscoll Avenue. I park the van and climb out, checking my outfit, thick grey pants and a red jersey.

I cross the green field to the home plate, where some guys and Cassidy are stretching. The entire park freezes as I walk into the scene.

The whole. Entire. Park.

I blush and try not to look embarrased. I hate the unexpected limelight. The silence is shattered by Cassidy. "Jess?" she finally manages. "You're trying out for the baseball team?"

Whoosh. Bomb dropped. I take a deep breath and nod.

Zach claps me on the back. "Way to go, Delaney!" He crows. Normally Darcy would be here, but he's at Dartmouth now. Ethan flashes me a thumbs up. "Awesome, Delaney," he approves. "So you've played fall ball before?"

I fidget with my standard braid. "Well, um... no," I confess.

Mouths drop and eyes open wide. "But... wait... what?" Third sputters. "How can you expect to make the Concord Basemen with no experience?"

The Alcott Basemen is the name of the team that I'm trying out for. I just shrug. "I'm just here to try something new," I tell them. If they knew the truth everyone would get all mushy and sweet. And I don't need that.

"All right everyone, listen up!" barks a man booking it across the field. "I want ten push ups, ten situps, ten jumping jacks and a lap to start off with!" he demands.

We drop to the ground and start the push ups. "Body straighter, Bartlett!" he snarls at Third, who's barely moving his arms. "And Norton, keep that shirt of yours tucked in!" Zach flushes and sits up to tuck in his jersey.

"Who's that?" I mutter out of the corner of my mouth to Cassidy, who's also stuck on the push ups.

"Mr. Camorlia," she breathes back. "The coach." We roll over and start the sit ups. "He teaches Honors Physics."

I'm huffing and puffing before I reach six sit ups, but the rest of the hopefuls haven't even broken a sweat. My stomach clenches as I near the last one. I vaugely pray that I don't get sick in front of all these people. But Coach Camorlia's facing a guy across from me and his back's to me, so I skip the last one and stand up to begin jumping jacks. I slow down as Coach Camorlia again turns his back, but as he whips around once more I hastily start up again. I'm bright red and I am sweating though my shirt. Whew. Talk about embarrassing. I finish the situps and do my jumpingjacks.

As I finish up my jumpingjacks, I join Cassidy and the guys doing a lap around the field. It's harder than it looks. I barely catch up to Ethan, who's got the shortest legs out of everyone, and then he totally out runs me. I'm nearly three minutes after every single guy or girl here.

"Attendence!" yells Coach Camorlia. "For those of you who don't know me, I'm Coach Camorlia. I teach Honors Physics and I tend to work athletes to the limit." He says the last part like a tough guy, the vowel sounds emphasized and the Rs not even there. He cracks his knuckles. "All right now, I got 22 hopefuls signed up to try out for the Concord Basemen. I'm gonna say your name and please hand me your concussion protocal sheet. Cranfield Bartlett III?"

Third lifts himself off the ground and hands Coach Camorlia a crisp white slip of paper. "My parents signed the concussion protocal sheet," he informs him. "Last year I got totally wiped. Anyway, call me Third."

Name after name after name is called. I perk up at "Sloane, Cassidy" and Cassidy gives him a white sheet.

"Brimault, Connor?"

A tall blond stands and hands over the piece of paper.

"Delaney, Jessica?"

I stand and slide my clean white slip into Coach Camorlia's waiting hands. He sizes me up and sniffs. I'm inwardly grateful I tried the new perfume Megan pressed me to try. It smells like flowers and covers the stench of sweat. Finally he grunts," Try your best."

I slip back into my spot next to Cassidy, and the try outs begin.

Practice Game first. I've never done one before and just hope I don't fail. We count off by 1s and 2s. I'm a 2 and Cassidy's a 1. Ethan and Third are on her team but Zach remains a 2.

"Ready, Delaney?" he grins.

"Ready," I promise.

I'm batting first and Cassidy's the catcher. Ethan throws me a pitch. It's headed right next to me! I squeal and hop out of the way. I hear a whistle blow and soon Coach Camorlia's in my face. "What was that, Delaney?" he growls.

I swallow. "I thought the ball would hit me," I reply meekly.

"It's a baseball! It's supposed to go right next to you!" he explodes. "How do you think you'll hit it?"

I feel frozen. I'm Jess Delaney, the one a teacher's never had to talk to and who never gets in trouble. I rub the thin fabric of the jersey between my fingers and stutter,"Uh... I-I'm sorry, C-Coach. I promise to do b-better next time."

"You better," he threatens. He returns to his spot on the bench with his clipboard. I calm myself with a few deep breaths.

The second pitch I try to smack, but it skims the bat and deflects. It ends up behind me. "FOUL BALL!" Coach bellows. I exhale. At least he's not mad at me.

The third pitch is pretty good. I take a hack but it misses by a mile. As my bat swings back, it collides with something hard. I hear a "Woah!" I whip around.

"Cassidy! What's wrong?" I cry.

"I'll tell you what's wrong, Delaney. That bat of yours smacked me in the face!" her voice is muffled and she's smiling. But that desn't register. I kneel down to her level. "Oh my gosh, Cass! I'm so sorry! Are you all right?"

"I'm fine, Jess."

"I'm sorry! You're not hurt... right? Cassidy?"

"YOU! OUT!" barks Coach Camorlia. I fly into the dugout as Connor Brimault gets ready to bat. I offer him a high five but he ignores it.

I guess he's disapointed in me, too.

It's almost the end of the practice game. I've been up to bat twice and failed miserably each time. The last time, I actually let go of the bat by accident and it flew. It banged into a bench and left a huge dent! Coach Camorlia wan't too pleased.

Cassidy's up. The first pitch from Zach wasn't too good, even I could tell that. The second was the same way. I see Zach grit his teeth and Cassidy gnaw on her lip. The Zach winds up and the ball went soaring.

Cassidy's eyes are trailed on it. She watches it with a strange intensity. Then she swipes the bat across herself and it collieds with the baseball perfectly. The ball flies across the field and finally lands behind the last outfielder.

"HOME RUN!" screams Third. Then all of the hopefuls hug Cassidy, with me in the center of the bear hug. Even Coach Camorlia manages a grin.

"Nice job, Sloane," he praises roughly. "You just earned yourself an automatic ticket to the team."

I whoop, and Cassidy's eyes grow enormous. "Seriously?" she finally gasps. "You mean it?"

"Why wouldn't I mean it?" Coach Camorlia jots something down on his clipboard. "Okay, team, I want you to practice your swings!"

I follow Ethan to the dugout where the spare bats are kept. I grab one-yellow and black- and try to mimic the rest of the people at tryouts. As Coach Camorlia comes over to inspect our techinque, his eyes linger on me.

"Hands at the correct position, Delaney," he orders.

I fumble with the bat and finally pick it up off the ground. I get a glimpse of Cassidy's hands and try to do the exact same thing.

Coach Camorlia growls. He grabs my tiny hands and smacks them where they should be. The tough slap stings my palm and I mutter,"Ouch!"

"Yo... Coach," Zach calls from the other side of the line we formed. "Don't be so hard on Delaney."

"Are you telling me how to do my job?" he snarls.

Zach takes a step back and stares at his cleats. "Um... no?"

"You better not, mister," Coach Camorlia shoots back. "Because I'm pretty sure you're still pending."

I glare down at my bat. Hating Zach, who made me feel like a weakling. Hating Coach, for being too tough. But most of all, hating myself for somehow squirming into this mess.

I grip my bat tightly as Coach brings focus back to me. "I'm trying harder, Coach Camorlia, really I am," I ramble, trying convince him I'm not as frail as I was made out. He nods and turns to Third, who nearly hit Connor with his last swing. I grit my teeth and try to get through the agonizing 3 hours.

Tryouts are over, and I'm sitting on the grass with the rest of my (hopefully!) team. We're talking about heading to Kimball's for some ice cream. I swig some water from my bottle and my phone buzzes. I pick it up and read a text from Mom. It says-

"HEY JESS- SUNDANCE IS IN LABOR! NEED UR HELP. U HAVE 2 COME HOME RITE NOW! X0- MOM."

I stand and announce it to the boys and girl, which is met by a chorus of groans. Cassidy rises abruptly. "Sorry, dudes," she says. "My wants me home too. Mind driving me, Jess?"

"No prob,'' I say grandly. We enter the minivan. and she calls shotgun. I slide in behind the wheel and start the engine.

"So..." Cassidy drums her fingers against the armrests.

I nod, unaware of what she is going to say.

"Why did you really try out, Jess?"

I shrug, my eyes glued to the road. "I dunno. Well... I do. I wanted to be with you... more."

Cassidy's face is emotionless.

I sigh. "You see, we're both headed in different directions in two years. And when the time comes, I don't want to regret not spending time with my friends while I still could."

Cassidy's expression is distant. "I know what you're talking about. When Courtney left, I felt guilty, like I hadn't been with her enough. But Jess, I'll never let go of something so valuable like my friends! Even if we do end up in different places, we'll communicate by email, text, video chat... everything. I promise."

We're in her driveway now. I lean over and give her a hug, and then she leaves. I watch her go inside, then I back up and zoom to the farm.

I just pulled into our driveway when my phone rings. "What now?" I grumble. Reaching for it, I answer with a surly," Yeah?"

"Jessica Delaney?"

"That's me."

"This is Mr. Richard Camorlia, otherwise known as Coach Camorlia. I'm calling to inform you that you have made the team."

I gasp. Oh my gosh! "Thank you," I breathe.

"Practices begin Monday at 6, and there is an optional practice on Thursday at-"

"Wait," I interupt. Is it even legal to interupt your new coach? Whatever. "I know I totally failed my try out. So why am I being recruited?"

"Listen here, Delaney. From the moment you walked out on that field I knew there was something special about you. The strut, the confidence. And even though you bombed the tryouts-"

I wince.

"You never gave up. You were obediant and always tried as hard as humanly possible. And I saw the look on your face when Mr. Norton stood up for you. You didn't want to be known as weak. And that's what playing ball really is about."

He's right. I grin as the full impact of this hit me. I stammer a thank you and hang up.

As I skip into the barn, I get ready to deliver Sundace's baby, and when I hold the new kid, I feel happiness blossom inside of me.

New beginnings. I look into the pure, new face. I have a feeling that this year will be like my new goat. Fresh... Exciting... and New.

**Hope you like! Please R&R! (Read and Review) They make my day!**

**Next trivia question-**

**In book number one, Emma's school dance dress is not correct. Megan recognizes it as what _ wore to her cousin's wedding.**

**1st right answer gets to pick between these two stories-**

**Cassidy visits Courtney in LA and meets a new friend**

**Megan fails math and her parents ban designing.**

**Please give a due date at leat 3 days in advance!**

**Thanks, Cassie**


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